The Importance Of My High School Band

On Tuesday February 8th, thirteen high school band members represented our school at the Trailways South Conference Honors Band. It was held at Edgerton Performing Arts Center. The students who participated were Brett Miller, Josh Kupsche, Sierra Wirth, Chris Yezzi, Madison Graf, Tori Nizzi, Madeline Wenzel, Megan Karczewski, Noah Argus, Katie Woodward, Allison Reichert, Summer Manzke, and Arianna Wichman. The students rehearsed all day as a full band with Rick Kirby and performed later that night. It was a day filled with great music, collaborating, and lots of fun. The student performed four songs, “Three Colonial Moments”, “The Willows of the Winter,” “Call of The Wild,” and ‘Crown Imperial March.” The director of the honors band was

Through music, many paths are able to come together. Although we come from different backgrounds, we are able to bond over the wonderful gift of music. The connection we have through music makes participating in the band program the most meaningful activity for me. The band program opened up my horizon and made me feel like I finally belonged somewhere. The diversity of the people in the program taught me how to be versatile. The age range amongst the members vary in which in one moment you have to respect and listen to who is in charge, then the next moment your peers are waiting for your orders. Learning to respect and handle being respected is an important lesson I am still learning. The position of power is something that should not go

When the question is brought up, “What does band mean to you?” I immediately think of the responsibility, hard work, and dedication and band has given me the chance to learn and strengthen. In addition to these life skills are many others, such as leadership, teamwork, and friendship. The Force has made more than just a difference in my high school career, it has impacted my life and has provided me with skills that will follow me throughout my life. Band means to supporting each other as we work through the hard times and grow closer as a family. Band means working hard and taking on responsibility for yourself. It also means being dependable, that people can count on you and your ability to achieve the unthinkable.

Most schools offer a variety of activities, classes, and clubs. I personally was never interested in school or anything to do with it. Then I came across band and was instantly hooked. Band has concerts, marching band, and you get to meet new people. Band is my favorite class and here are some reasons why.

The band program means a lot to me because it has helped me become more outgoing and friendly to people. It has also helped me gain much more of an interest towards all things music. When I was a kid I always wanted to be a teacher, but I never knew what I wanted to teach. When I joined band and attended different music classes, I became interested in something that meant little to me at the time. During my time in band it became much more clear to me that I wanted to pursue music education. The band program means a lot to me because it made me who I am today and I hope to help someone find themselves through music like I

During Senior year’s marching season, I was given two leadership positions. Section leader of the french horn section as well as Hornline Captain for the whole entire wind ensemble. I had many responsibilities and obligations to fill with both positions. With time,patience, and much failure I was able to rise to the challenge.

As with most kids, I was a bit nervous about my transition from middle school to high school. One advantage I had was that I participated in band in middle school and planned to be in the band in high school. The Round Rock High School band has a history of excellence and I was looking forward to being a part of that organization. This was an extraordinary time and I looked forward to being a part of the band with great anticipation. Being a part of an organization such as this makes the transition to high school seem much easier and it seemed I had a ready-made group of friends that I could rely on and ask questions of if necessary. After all, the Round Rock High School Band has over 300 members.

Despite this, marching band forced me to practice more and perfect my skills, and I am increasingly better now for it. I even made an alternate for all-county, something I thought only “good players” could do. Turns out, I am

When I came to Highlands Ranch High School as a freshman, I didn’t know where I belonged. I had done soccer, but a concussion and several headaches later, decided it wasn’t for me. I had tried fully devoting myself to academics, but later realized that I can’t spend my life focusing on grades. I didn’t have anywhere to belong. Then, in the winter of my freshman year, I was persuaded into doing winter percussion. I had never played an instrument before and had absolutely no idea what was going on. I didn’t even really know what a quarter note was, no less how to count them. My freshman self was totally clueless and wanted to quit at first because I was so bad and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But, I stuck with it to the end of the winter percussion season and when we took second place in the state suddenly all the long hours of rehearsal and constant changes were totally worth it.

I stood on the podium, looking out at the field and took a deep breath. The fans in the stands behind me were a buzz in my ears as I made eye contact with every member of the band. I held my hands up and clapped three times and then SNAP! The instruments were up and I counted off, starting our first marching band show of the season.

People say that I am great. They tell me I’m talented. They tell me I play well. They tell me that they wish they could play like I do. They admire my desire to succeed, my willingness to critique myself, the countless hours that I spend in a practice room each week.

It is essential that we all help each other through every band camp and last minute rehearsal no matter what. The realization that no matter how well I performed on the field did not matter to the judges unless the rest of the band also performed just as well was very hard-hitting. To be successful we must help each other. My perspective and relationship with my bandmates grew substantially because of this, I no longer want to to be on my own, I no longer want an itty-bitty group of friends, I want to be apart of something big and I want to be apart of something

My senior year of high school, my high brass director left on an extremely short notice, leaving our band one director short for the whole marching season. I cannot begin to describe the trials that we encountered as a band, specifically the high brass family. Not having our “band dad” with us took an excruciating toll that set the high brass back and ultimately the whole band. As a senior, it was my job to step up and facilitate my section since we did not have anyone else to guide us. I did my absolute best to accommodate the younger members with ideal practices to improve their marching skills and playing techniques. During this challenging time, I attempted to take on the persona of a band director to motivate my section to work hard every

The first two or three sectionals of marching band, where you go and practice the marching music every Tuesday for four hours, were very awkward because I was by myself. Another flute showed up eventually and helped reduce the awkwardness. It was scary but it quickly became just something I did. Then the long hours, sunburns, dehydration, exhaustion, and fun started. We spent around six to seven hours outside marching, one to two hours practicing music, and one hour to eat lunch. To some people this might seem like nothing but for others it’s the opposite, and no

The activities that i'm involved in, inside of school are Marching Band. The Albert Lea High School Marching Band is during the summer and lasts about a week. It’s a blast and I meet new friends, also 8th Graders are allowed to do marching band and us upper kids help them with marching and memorizing the music. I also do regular Band class here at school. I play the Flute and are now learning how to play the Tuba, during the marching band season I do Drumline. I use to play softball and volleyball. Softball wasn’t the greatest, I mean getting hit in the face with softballs isn’t fun, other than that I had a great time and games and the girls on my team were the nicest. I played volleyball for 3 years. I had to skip a year of volleyball to plan my Quinceanera. This year, my sophomore year, I tried out for volleyball. Sadly I didn’t make it. Even though i was bummed out, I learned to cope with it.